Propane Safety: The Regulations We Follow to Keep Everyone Safe

AmeriGasfollows a wide variety of federal, state and local environmental, safety and transportation laws to make sure that we candeliver propane safely to our customers. Some of these laws include, among others, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”), the Clean Air Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, and the Clean Water Act. If you’ve ever wondered why we are such sticklers for certain policies and procedures such as our need to conduct leak tests, it’s because we want to make sure we keep everyone safe.

Fire Safety

Every state has its own set of fire safety codes that regulate the storage and distribution of propane. In some states these laws are administered by state agencies, and in others they are administered on a municipal level. AmeriGas works hard to conduct training programs to help ensure that our operations are in compliance with applicable governmental regulations. With respect to our general operations, theNational Fire Protection Associationand specifically theNFPA 54: National Fuel Gas CodeandNFPA 58: Liquefied Petroleum Gas Codepamphlets, have established a set of rules and procedures governing the safe handling of propane that AmeriGas sticks to.

Transporting Propane

With respect to the transportation of propane by truck, AmeriGas adheres to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act and the Homeland Security Act of 2002. Regulations under these statutes cover the security and transportation of hazardous materials and are administered by the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The DOT also enforces safety regulations for the transportation of gases by pipeline. The DOT’s pipeline safety regulations apply to, among other things,a propane gas system which supplies 10 or more residential customersor 2 or more commercial customers from a single source and a propane gas system any portion of which is located in a public place. AmeriGas provides training and procedures for employees to minimize the hazards resulting from gas pipeline emergencies, and we regularly conduct inspections and testing.